Anthony Hemingway to Direct 'The Purge' TV Series

The Emmy-winning director will helm the premiere episode of USA Network's and Syfy's adaptation of the horror film franchise.

Star TV director Anthony Hemingway has landed his next project.

The People v. O. J. Simpson vet will helm the first episode of USA Network's and Syfy’s The Purge series, based on the horror film franchise of the same name. The show hails from Universal Cable Productions and Blumhouse Television, the independent production company behind the movies. The 10-episode, straight-to-series drama was first announced in April as part of Blumhouse's ITV-backed studio deal.

Hemingway, one of the TV industry’s most prominent black directors, most recently worked on USA’s true crime series Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. He rose to fame directing and co-executive producing the first iteration of American Crime Story, which earned him an Emmy and Golden Globe award. He also served as director and executive producer on Underground, and has previously directed episodes of Battlestar Galactica, American Horror Story, Orange Is the New Black, Empire and Shameless.

The Purge will star East Los High’s Gabriel Chavarria and Six’s Jessica Garza. Film franchise creator James DeMonaco will write the adaptation. Serving as executive producers are DeMonaco, Blumhouse’s Jason Blum, Michael Bay, Platinum Dunes’ Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, Sebastien K. Lemercier and Thomas Kelly, the latter of whom also serves as the showrunner.